Good Times with Big Sis

I was lucky enough to NOT have to spend my first set of holidays as a Peace Corps Volunteer alone!  Yayy mee!!  My big sis spent a nice chunk of her hard-earned teacher money to make sure her favorite big head didn't have to cry herself to sleep on those days when most families are all together surrounded by love, opening gifts on Christmas and counting down as they ring in the new year.  We had a BLAST!!  I miss her so much already, but we have some great memories that I'm sure will hold me over until she returns next Christmas!  Yep...there will be a part two to the Keza and Mbabazi Chronicles!!  Yayy again!! Read about our adventures below:

First Night in Rwanda and Already She's Ignorant

On Christmas Eve I waited and waited, and waited some more, for my sister to get through customs at the airport and when I finally saw her walk through the airport doors I didn't know what to do.  I thought to myself, She's here! My sister is really here!!  After we hugged and expressed every joyful emotion just short of tears, we made our way to our taxi that waited not one...not two...but THREE hours for my sister to make her way through the loooong customs line.  Long story short, the driver drove us to a hostel near the city center and we decided to stay up late so we could catch up...that is, until the man in the next room shouted through the door, "We are trying to sleep!  You are ignorant!...Will you please open the door?"

Here we were, just minding our business and having a few quiet laughs over a few stories and good times that we've each had during our time apart.  About 10  minutes into our conversation, we hear a light tapping on the wall.  Not sure if it was geared toward us, we looked at each other, shrugged it off, and kept right on chatting.  And then there it was again, "BANG BANG BANG!"  (Okay this time we definitely knew it was for us).  We decided to consider the rude bangs on the wall and took our semi-quiet chatter down to a very-quiet whisper.  At this point, we were literally speaking as if we were telling secrets in church during the benediction.  We carried on talking this way for about 10 more minutes and then we heard a door open...then a knock at our door...and then an angry male voice, "Will you please stop talking?  We are trying to sleep here."  My sis, who isn't one to take any crap responded, "We are whispering. We aren't even talking loud."  The man then retreated back to his room and shut the door.  Less than 5 minutes later, a door opened again and, "BANG BANG BANG!" went our door.  "We are not talking loud!" said my sister, with a slight attitude finding its way into her voice.  The man then responded, no shouted, "We are trying to sleep!  You are very ignorant!"  After about a 10 second silence, the man said very kindly (strangely nice considering the way he just yelled at us)  "Will you please open the door?"  Uhmmm...no!  I'm sure my sister and I both thought to ourselves.  You were just yelling at us at the top of your lungs and now you ask us ever so kindly, as if you are a boy scout selling cookies, if we can open the door?  At this point, my sister and I gave up on our failed attempts to whisper and decided to call it a night.  Half of me was afraid that this man was going to try to bust through our door so when my sis agreed that we should just go to sleep, I breathed a sigh of relief and closed my eyes.  All of the fun would just have to wait until tomorrow.

Christmas Day!!

We woke up bright and early on Christmas day and after enjoying a surprisingly delicious breakfast at the hostel, I gave my sis a quick greetings/language/culture 101 and then we started on our way to my host family's home; a few busses and a few hours later, we arrived at their house. First things first, we greeted everyone (three hugs and a hand shake for each person) and then proceeded to give them their Christmas gifts that my sis brought with her from America.  Of course, there were more people than we had planned for, but that wasn't even an issue.  My host mother and three host siblings immediately began to share with the other two relatives who were there to celebrate this special day.  My sister fell in love with my host family immediately, and the same went for them with her.  We had such a good time and we fit right in...just like family!

Here are a few interesting moments we shared with my host family on Christmas Day.  There are tons so I've tried to keep each one short:

Christmas Lunch and Christmas Dinner

A traditional Christmas in Rwanda usually consists of a lot of church and a lot of eating.  Lucky for me, and too bad for my sister, we got to my host family too late and they were already finished with church...now on to my favorite part of any day...EATING!  For lunch we had ifrite (my favorite!!), rice, beans, and meat.  Since my sister was the guest of honor, she was instructed to make her plate first.  It was funny watching her do everything first because it kind of allowed me to see how I looked trying everything for the first time when I arrived eight months ago.  She made the cutest little plate...just one (maybe two) spoonfuls of everything (except the meat).  Everyone at the table made fun of her "American" plate of food and contrasted her plate with mine as I piled it nice and high, just as the Rwandans do.  The joke of American vs. Rwandan plates comes from the fact that Americans eat many small meals each day and Rwandans usually eat one or two HUGE meals each day.  I guess I've grown accustomed to the HUGE meals thing because my sis was looking at me with wide eyes as, I'm sure, she thought to herself, she is NOT going to eat all that!  Well, long story short, I did eat it all!  And I even dipped back into the pot for seconds!  I thought lunch on this day was our 'Christmas dinner' so I made sure to fill up my hungry little tummy...just as the Rwandans do! (:

Much to my surprise, later that night there indeed was a dinner.  And although I was still uncomfortably full from lunch and the tea that we drank afterward, I piled my plate up nice and high anyway (more out of habit than hunger).  With encouraging looks from my host family, and estranged looks from my sister, I gobbled down my HUGE plate of dodo (pronounced doe-doe; or greens in America), meat, and pasta...and then we were off to bed.  And yes, I slept great that night (:

Photo Shoots, Peeing, and Digging in Men's Pockets

After lunch, but before dinner, my host brother decided that he wanted to take me and my sis some place so that we could take some nice pictures.  We ended up traveling about 10 minutes on his moto (yep, all three of us on his one moto) and came to this secluded, out of the way mountainous area with the most beautiful view!  It was absolutely gorgeous.  Of course we took millions of photos up there (which will be posted sooner than later), but the photos do the actual view no justice at all.  Rwanda was absolutely breath-taking from way up where we were--it just reminded me of why I fell in love with this country in the first place.

On our short moto-journey to the mountain, my sis definitely got a small taste of what really goes down in the small dirt roads and back ways of Rwanda.  She experienced the illegal 3-on-one moto ride, witnessed a grown man peeing on the side of the road (not even attempting to hide behind any of the nearby trees or bushes), and a moto ride photo shoot in which my host brother, the driver, posed for each shot, and then had the nerve to want to review the photos while he drove the moto! This next experience takes the cake for our short adventure.  My host brother's phone (which was in his pocket) rang while he was driving us to our photo shoot location.  Much to my surprise, he said to my sister, "Reach into my pocket and take my phone."  I cracked up laughing immediately as my sister hesitantly attempted to reach just two fingers into his front pocket to grab his phone.  Of course she wasn't able to reach it with just two fingers so she pulled her hand back, placed all five of her fingers together and shoved her entire hand right in!  After a few seconds of digging and reaching, she finally succeeded in retrieving the cell phone (without touching more than the cell phone).  We were both laughing hysterically the entire time.  It was a bit awkward, but my sis got to experience her first only-in-Rwanda moment and it was only day two!  At this point, I couldn't wait to see what the rest of the trip would have in store!

Bath Time!!

Before we went to bed on Christmas night, my sister and I decided that we would skip the bucket bath at my host mom's house and just wait to take one at the hostel (in a shower).  She wasn't quite ready for her first bucket bath and I can't really say I blamed her; I actually preferred to wait to use a shower too.  Well much to our surprise, when we woke up on the morning of the 26th, I walked out of our room to greet my host mom and she already had water boiling for our baths.  I smiled and said, "Mwaramutse!" (good morning).  She responded with the same and then proceeded to tell me that she was boiling water for me and Tasha's bath.  I wondered to myself, did I hear correctly?  Did she just say bath and not baths?  Before I could ask for clarification, my host mom added on in Kinyarwanda, "You can bathe Natasha.  She does not know how."  Well, there you have it.  She definitely made the word "bath" singular on purpose.  I kind of laughed and thought back to when we were younger and I would beg to be able to take a bath with my sister; of course she always said no.  Now here were, 24 and 30, being forced to.  Long story short, we grabbed our towels, soap, and our ONE bucket to share and headed for the bathing area.  The surprises just won't quit, I thought to myself.  But, unlike me, at least she didn't have to take her first bucket bath alone...she had me there to coach her through it lol

Bed Bugs and Coconut Oil

Such fun bed bugs are...you never know you've got 'em until it's too late.  Here it is, Christmas night and my sister and I are getting ready for bed.  My host mom gave us her bed for the night, which consisted of a mattress lying flat on the floor.  After being here for eight months, I didn't mind that the mattress was on the floor--I considered the mattress a luxury...and the mosquito net was a plus!  Before we went to sleep, my sister offered me some of her coconut oil, which she brought to use as a natural insect repellant.  Of course I think I'm a Rwanda veteran so I responded with a brisk, "No, I don't need that."  (I would pay for that response later).

I was so tired after our full day that I slept like a baby that night.  I woke up a couple of times to something crawling on me, but fell right back to sleep once I brushed whatever the critters were away.  When we woke up in the morning I said to my sister, " Something was crawling on me last night."  She responded, "Nothing crawled on me.  You should have used this coconut oil."  I half rolled my eyes at her comment and half thought to myself, that coconut oil doesn't repel anything anyway.  Well later on that day, I began to itch all over (and she didn't).  When I asked my sister to take a look at my back, she saw maybe 20 or so small chicken-pox looking bumps (bed bug bites, I'm sure) on my skin along the seam of my t-shirt.  After sympathizing with me a little bit, she said to me matter-of-factly, "See, you should have used the coconut oil."  Again, I just rolled my eyes, I hate it when she's right!

Love and Peace Corps,

Dametreea

P.S.

There are plenty more stories that I'll be posting over the next few days.  Stay tuned for more from my sister's trip into this beautifully, wonderfully, amazing country!